Grandview advances in District playoffs

GRANDVIEW - After fending off visiting Toppenish in a tight game one, the Grandview Lady Greyhound volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 victory last night.

Thursday night's all-or-nothing play-off match - with the losing team finished for the season and the winner advancing to District play tomorrow - saw Grandview hold on for a tight 25-22 win in game one.

"The first game was very close," says Grandview Coach John LaFever.

He said the game went Grandview's way when Mikaela Espinoza reeled off four service points. "Those came at a critical time to put us ahead in game one," LaFever said. "We got hot at the right time."

For the match, Espinoza delivered 11 service points, including five aces.

From there Toppenish had no answer for Grandview's trio of Espinoza, Payton Parrish and Taylor Hall at the net. The Lady Greyhounds to 25-6, 25-12 wins in games two and three.

"They had two big hitters and we had three, and we could overmatch them a little bit," LaFever said.

Hall had a team-high 13 kills followed by Parrish with 10 and Espinoza with eight. Parrish also paced the Grandview attack with 19 assists and Espinoza recorded three blocks.

Freshman Samantha Grove helped Grandview at the net by pounding two kills and five blocks.

After last night's victory in a loser-out playoff match, Grandview (8-2, 12-3) will travel to Selah tomorrow, Saturday, for a double-elimination CWAC District tourney.

The Lady Greyhounds open the tourney at 11 a.m. against East Valley, one of two CWAC South teams to beat Grandview during the regular season.

If Grandview can grab a win in one of its two playoff contests tomorrow, then it will advance to Regionals next Saturday, Nov. 5, at East Valley's gym.